YES

Emmanuel Zammit, Director eLearning

The one-tablet-per-child national rollout started in December 2016. To date, 5,505 tablets have been distributed to all Year 4 students, their educators, technical staff and support teachers. A further 500 tablets are being distributed to new students, new teachers, peripatetic teachers, education officers and senior management teams in schools, for a total of 6,027 in the first phase of the project.

The success of this project is very much dependent on regular waves of teacher training. The eLearning Department has been providing teachers with continuous support, including the provision of books on tablet pedagogy and lesson ideas for the use of tablets in the class. The next in-service training is scheduled for July 2017, coinciding with the launch of the second phase of the project, with an additional 520 tablets distributed to Year 5 educators and 4,450 tablets for the new cohort of Year 4 students. In practice, we have a continuous training programme regime in place since we are also running a third online voluntary course on the use of tablets in the classroom.

The LearnPad solution being deployed is an award-winning classroom tablet uniquely designed for the education environment. As an educator, I would suggest that the most important aspect of the project is not merely having access to robust, state-of-the-art technology but a solution that can add tangible value to students in terms of teaching and learning intentions. For instance, the device offers classroom control and supervision aids that can be a major concern in any classroom. The software makes monitoring simple and allows the teacher to connect to and interact with learners on an individual basis while they work on class assignments.

The tablet can become a vital asset in the teacher’s toolkit, a means of engaging and motivating both teacher and learner. The most important element in the classroom remains the interaction and communication between learners and teachers.

Here I highlight the role of the teacher, to whom we entrust the well-being of our future generations, albeit for a short period of time. At the Education Ministry we have been acutely aware of the need to place teachers at the core of the tablets project and make adequate preparations before a single tablet was issued to students.

The tablet can become a vital asset in the teacher’s toolkit, a means of engaging and motivating both teacher and learner

Proper teacher training, preparation of content and responsive user support are vital if the country is to secure tangible returns from the investment in technology. For instance, the tablet could well have been ignored in the most important times during class if teachers did not know when, how and even why they should be using the device. I am not referring to mastering the user interface – which button to press and the habitual technical learning that comes with being able to operate the tablet efficiently.

I am referring to the ability to reach a teaching objective through the proper and mindful use of technology. This includes helping the learner to search for and navigate through the content that is found on the web, identifying the right resources, deciding on the value of the information and how to use and interpret online content and make it their own so it can then be used in their work – while surfing the web in a safe environment.

We will continue to invest significantly in teacher training in the coming years because we believe that without a properly trained teacher, we would be just adding another sparkling gadget in the child’s hands and nothing else.

The one-tablet-per-child initiative is not just a technology project – it’s also about introducing new approaches to pedagogy and investing in the digital literacy of our young people. To date, we are quietly very pleased with the results we are seeing in the classroom, on a daily basis.

NO

Therese Comodini Cachia, MEP and Shadow Minister for Education

Providing schoolchildren with a tablet only is not a good idea. Providing schoolchildren and educators with technology and digital resources as tools in the learning process is a good idea. Tablets, interactive boards and computers are not end objectives in themselves but only tools to be used in the learning process.

Consequently, we should not speak of giving tablets to schoolchildren but of giving children and educators the digital resources they need. Digital tools are enablers of a learning environment that can engage children and teachers in a mode of communication that children are attracted to.

Children are already heavily exposed to the use of gadgets outside of school and, often, they are exposed to the negative uses of technology. For example, they are exposed to technology as a medium for predominantly sedentary games, entertainment and non-physical human communication. Within schools, teachers may be challenged by this understanding of technology.

We need to ensure that, in the classroom, the use of such tools debunks such perception and, instead, support teachers to show technology as a tool for education and for broadening one’s horizons. When we provide tablets without having first established a strong digital platform that provides educators, students and parents with resources that facilitate education, then we would have failed our children and our educators.

We must ensure that the focus is retained on the educational purpose behind the use of that gadget

I think this is what has happened in our education system. We have provided tablets to children before ensuring educators have access to digital resources that can be used to facilitate interactive learning.

The digital resources we provide are much more important than the tablet itself. We have not yet provided such resources, nor have we sufficiently empowered teachers with the time they need to prepare for new dynamics in teaching. If we really want to take the opportunities that digital technology provides in education, then we have to realise that they transform teaching methods. They provide the teacher with more chances to turn students into active learners and can provide more possibilities for discussion and debate.

But have we provided our teachers with the flexibility and time resources they need to enable such interactive engagement in class? Unfortunately, providing the device may very well have burdened teachers with more administrative and preparatory work rather than unleashed their full teaching potential. Besides a strong platform with high-quality resources, teachers also need their working conditions to become such that give them the time to teach through digital tools.

The physical tool itself also provides a number of other challenges to educators. We cannot impose the use of tablets on teachers without giving them the discretion to identify how that tablet and digital resources are best used to suit the needs and character of the children in the classroom. Each classroom represents different and varied learning realities and the teacher is best suited to identify how and when the use of those resources provide the best learning experience to students.

This necessitates that teachers are familiar and comfortable with the technology and with the resources made available. Technology is not a tool to be used during IT classes but in all subjects. Not all teachers may be familiar with how to do this. We strongly need to support teachers and provide them not only with opportunities of continuous professional development but also with continuous support.

We cannot escape the use of digital technologies in the classroom as good tools that enhance the learning process. After all, the classroom also needs to remain in touch with outside realities. But we must ensure that the focus is retained on the educational purpose behind the use of that gadget. Furthermore, children need to attain digital skills that go beyond using the tool, to learning how to create the tool and the digital resources found in it.

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